Efialtis
by CharlieCaller
Summary: The turtles and Splinter find themselves on an enchanted island, where they have to face and conquer some of their worst fears, if they are to survive.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, never have, never will, and I'm not profiting in any way from borrowing them.

Rating: T

Summary: The turtles and Splinter find themselves on an enchanted island, where they have to face and conquer some of their worst fears, if they are to survive.

Notes: _Efialtis_ – Greek noun for Nightmare. (According to the dictionary on the internet, anyway. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

For a change, a long story. Tame blend of action/adventure/drama, with attempts at humour thrown in. Feedback is much appreciated, help point me in the right direction so far as my writing goes. Most importantly, hope you like it.

--

Title: Efialtis

--

Prologue

Four teenage turtles and one aging rat padded along the pure white sand of the desolate beach, looking around in awe at the apparent paradise they had landed on. To their right, the turquoise waves washed gently over their feet. The Vacant Sea. To their left was a lush green jungle, quite different to any other kind the five had ever known or read about. The Silent Jungle. Above them, the blue sky was as clear as the purest water. The Empty Sky. As they walked, they continued to drink in the incredible scenery with some apprehension.

_No matter what my teenage sons think, we have not stumbled upon the Bermuda Triangle, nor are we extras on whatever _Lost _is_. _Although, I do not think we will be found any time soon._

_This is not the first strange adventure my sons and I have experienced of late, and I fear it will not be the last. Like most things, we are taking it in our stride; at the moment, we remain unharmed on this island, but this will not last. It never does. In most cases, we must work together to overcome our foes and be victorious in our battles. However, where we are now, our battles are individual, and personal._

_I had thought it nothing more than a legend – experience should have taught me to be more open-minded. But Efialtis, the island we have found ourselves on, is most certainly real. The enchanted island targets each being who unwittingly finds themselves walking upon it, and engages them in a battle. This, however, is not merely physical combat between opponents. The island homes in on the individual's deepest, darkest fears, and uses those fears against them._

_My sons are strong, both in mind and in body, but everyone has an element of vulnerability about them, and no matter how deep-seated, the forces within this island can locate it. And when we faced with our fears, the lines that separate reality from our imaginations blur. To emerge triumphant, we must define those lines with logic, and then we can see the answer to the puzzle._

_Of course, it is never that easy._


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

-

_Ah_, Raphael thought to himself contentedly as he walked through the street-level garage and passed by the Battleshell, _home, sweet home_. Or _sewer, sweet sewer. Sewer, stinking sewer? Whatever_.

Raphael had spent the night with Casey Jones, embarking on "vigilante duties" as the two had dubbed it. The raw reality of it was that they spent the night cruising the city for Purple Dragons, to drum some sense into them, and show them who the good guys were. Most of them deserved it, as more often than not, Raphael and Casey happened upon the lowlife punks midway through some kind of felony or other, either muggings or drug deals, so all in all, they were doing the city some good, they rationalised. And, if it meant Raphael was able to release some of his pent-up energy and frustration from being caged within his sewer lair during the day, that was always a bonus. As he told Splinter and Leonardo, "it's like extra-curricular training. I'm getting a work-out, using my ninja skills, _and _I'm doing some cleaning in NYC." Though Splinter did not overly approve, if it meant that Raphael could "go out for air" as he sometimes needed to, then he would overlook his actual activities on the surface. Plus, if it meant Mr. Jones spent less time in the lair, the occasional excursion would most certainly be encouraged.

As he headed towards the elevator doors, Raphael stretched his arms and worked the kinks out of his shoulders. The workout last night had been more strenuous than usual, but luckily, he had nothing more than sore muscles to show for it. When he came back covered in bumps and bruises, and sometimes cuts and scrapes, he got the third degree from his Sensei, and later, his older brother, both of which he could do without. He was being less cocky when it came to battling, something which was developing with maturity, but mainly from learning that the less time he spent ragging on his foe, the fewer abrasions he came back home with. _And the less lectures I get, _Raphael chuckled to himself.

His unusually cheerful mood was abruptly interrupted. The elevator doors had closed and he had pressed the button, but for his efforts he received nothing more than a half-hearted mumble from the machine. The elevator itself did not move an inch.

Growling, the now-frowning Raphael punched the button again, and when the noise became louder and more ferocious, Raphael jumped back, Sai in one hand out of nowhere, and decided to abandon the machine altogether – and quickly, before it got violent.

A few minutes later, he walked through the lair from the sewer entrance, and made a beeline for Donny's work bench. "Yo, genius," he called brashly, making Donny jump half out of his shell. "We got a problem. Elevator's busted," he said, jerking a thumb towards the offending machine.

Donny rolled his eyes. "And you want me to fix it, I assume?"

Raphael folded his arms and fumbled, "well... uh... yeah."

Donny sighed. He didn't mind fixing things for his family, especially since mechanics and machinery was an eternal fascination to him, but sometimes, he felt a little taken for granted. He stood up, and smirked. Still, he thought to himself, there were ways of making sure his brothers did not treat him like a doormat. "What's the magic word?"

"_Please_ fix the elevator," Raphael growled in a low voice. He did not see it as a selfish request to ask Donny to repair the machine – everyone used the elevator, and they never knew when an emergency might crop up. He at first thought Donny was just being an annoying little brother by stalling, but then realised that his request came across as more of a command or a demand. "Please," he repeated, this time more graciously.

"Much better," Donny said, moving to his toolbox. _Don't think a polite tone is going to call us even, dear brother_, he thought to himself, hiding the wicked gleam in his eye as he bent over to pick up the box. He strolled into the living area and called out, "Mikey! Wanna come help me fix the elevator?"

Michelangelo glanced up from the video monolith, a fistful of popcorn inches away from his mouth. "What's in it for me?" he asked bluntly, before throwing the popcorn into his wide-open mouth and chewing it loudly. Michelangelo was the master of not being walked over by his older brothers.

"Raph will cook dinner tonight, instead of you," Donny called back, before shooting his older brother a grin. "You don't get my services for nothing, bro. Catch you later!" He and Mikey exited the lair, leaving Raphael grumbling to himself about the bane of younger brothers.

--

"So, why's it stuck, Donny-boy?" Mikey drawled, deftly twirling a wrench in between his three green fingers. "Why won't it go? You've been working on it for like, twenty minutes, and it's not fixed? Man, you must be losing your touch, bro!"

He and Donatello had gone up to street-level via the sewers to the warehouse, where they were still trying to fix the elevator, or at least work out what was wrong with it. Well, _Donny_ was trying to work out what was wrong with it. Mikey's part in the operation was standing around and occasionally passing tools to his brother. Plus incessantly chatting to him for the past twenty-one minutes and nineteen seconds.

"I can't figure it out," Donny sighed, close to defeat. He hated admitting to defeat, and so he decided to call it a strategic pause. He sat back on his haunches and wiped his brow. "There's nothing clogging up the mechanism, none of the crystals are damaged – I just don't get it."

Fixing the elevator was not as simple as it would be to fix any other device. The machine was not powered by electronics, but by the crystals, so the problem was not as easily solved as locating a loose wire. Repairing it meant having a sound knowledge of the crystals, and though Donatello had some basis in this, he was still well and truly stumped.

"Erm... hydraulics?" Mikey asked, balancing the end of the wrench on one finger of his hand. He didn't especially know what the hydraulics were, but the word sounded good.

"Fine too," Don replied, thumbing his chin in thought. "Come to think of it, I haven't checked..."

A low rumbling cut Donny off mid-sentence, followed by a trembling that seemed originate from directly below the elevator. He stood up suddenly, holding his hands out in front of him to try and balance. Michelangelo dropped the wrench, which echoed with a harsh clang in the elevator capsule.

"What's that?" Mikey asked a little apprehensively, feeling the juddering from beneath his feet.

In the lair, Leonardo and Raphael were sparring in the dojo when they stopped, feeling the soft mats seemingly vibrating beneath them. "What in the shell is that?" Raphael demanded to know, looking around for the possible source of the disturbance.

Master Splinter was watching the television when the signal broke up, and all he could see on the screen was static. He too felt the shaking, and stood up to find out what the disturbance was.

"My sons!" Splinter called out. "Is Michelangelo playing his rock music again?"

"No, Sensei," Leonardo said as he and Raphael emerged from the dojo into the living area.

"Maybe Stockman's brain made some more Mousers for us," Raphael contemplated, holding his hands up over his head as a thin shower of dust rained over him. "'Cept maybe this time they're tigers or something!"

"It could be an earthquake, they're rare in New York, but you never know," Leonardo suggested over the noise.

"Alien invasion?" Raphael wondered, as though it were the most ordinary explanation in the world.

As the shaking continued, the three heard a whoosh accompanied by a rough squealing sound, the kind that tore at their eardrums and made their spines shiver and stand on end. They then heard a loud, violent crash, and the shaking ceased. Silence, save for the settling crumbs of debris, boomed through the lair.

"What was...?" Leo began hoarsely, before Raphael cut in.

"The elevator!" Raphael cried, tearing towards the doors. He pressed the button for the doors to slide, and nearly fell forwards in anticipation. He grabbed onto the side of the wall to stop himself tumbling through the empty space. He looked up, and saw two broken cables hanging alone, swaying in the new breeze whistling through from above.

"Don!" Raphael called out in vain, wincing as his shout echoed relentlessly. "Mikey! DONNY! MI-"

"Raphael," Master Splinter gasped, having reached his son's side and grasped his shoulder. "Are they..."

"They were fixing it," Raphael whispered, his eyes transfixed on the black abyss that used to contain the elevator. "It was broken when I came back home earlier. I sent Don and Mike out to fix it. I told them to go fix it..."

"Alright, Raph," Leo cut in mid-ramble, "we're gonna go down there and we're gonna get them. Come with me to get some ropes and equipment," he instructed, trying to remain calm for the sake of his family, despite quivering internally. "Sensei," he continued hastily, "here's a Shell Cell. Press that button and try and talk to Don or Mike, see if they answer."

As Raphael and Leonardo ran to a cupboard at the back of the lair, where the abseiling equipment they would need was stored, Splinter anxiously spoke into the device. "My sons!" he called, desperately trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "Donatello! Michelangelo! If you can hear me, please answer!" He listened for a moment, hearing nothing but a slight crackling sound. "Please, my sons! Are you there?"

"They're gonna be okay," Raphael mumbled, convincing himself more than Leonardo. Both were rummaging frantically in the cupboard. "They'll be okay."

"They'll be fine," Leonardo affirmed. "I don't know how deep the elevator shaft goes, but they'll be safer inside the elevator than... than not." He didn't really know for sure, that's why he stopped before he got too far ahead. He wanted to give some hope to Raphael, but he didn't want to lie. He decided not to talk, just to concentrate on the task, and give it his full attention.

The two brothers headed back to Master Splinter, who shook his head in the negative to their silent question. Wordlessly, they quickly carried out the task of fixing the abseiling ropes. Leonardo was harnessed first.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, Master," he said, and was moments from taking his first step backwards when Splinter spoke.

"I am coming with you."

Leonardo opened his mouth to protest, to say that it would be too dangerous, that Splinter should stay behind, but he closed it. No argument could counter the fact that two of Splinter's children were in peril. "Yes, Sensei," Leonardo nodded. Raphael had already began to attach a harness to Master Splinter.

Leonardo tugged at the ropes sharply once, to make sure they were secure. With a curt nod, he began his descent into the dark void below. Splinter, and lastly Raphael, followed soon after.

--


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Leonardo descended as quickly as the ropes would safely allow him to do. He was ahead of Splinter and Raphael, and within a few minutes, the torch on his belt – something that Donny made, Leonardo remembered with a wince – showed the summit of the mountain of rubble.

"Sensei, Raph!" Leonardo called up. "I'm at the bottom! I'm gonna look for the guys!"

Not wasting a second, Leonardo found himself a steady piece of ground to land upon, and untied his abseiling ropes. Armed with a beacon, which was a far more powerful torch than the one on his belt, he switched it on and scanned the area.

The foot of the narrow elevator shaft opened out into a vast cavern. It was easily three times the size of a school gymnasium, and was made all the more difficult to negotiate due to the hills of rubble.

Leo quickly spotted a collection of Donny's tools, which glinted in the dim light. He hurried over to them, hoping to spot one or both of his brothers in the vicinity.

"Donatello!" He shouted, but then dipped his voice as small, coin-sized fragments of rock and dust showered on him. "Michelangelo!"

As Leonardo scoured the area where he had found the tools, both Raphael and Splinter landed at the foot of the elevator shaft. The two quickly undid their ropes, and began searching along with the oldest turtle.

"Yo, Leo, you find anything?"

"A couple of wrenches and stuff over here," Leo called back, waving to where he'd discovered the find.

As Raphael headed over to where Leonardo stood, Splinter's keen sense of smell took him in another direction. Sniffing about one particular pile of debris, the rat moved aside a few rocks, and gasped at what he found beneath them. "Raphael," he commanded sharply.

Raph immediately turned away from where he and Leo had been pulling away the larger rocks, and was at his Master's side. He did not need to be told what he had to do. He fiercely began pulling away at the rocks to reveal his brother beneath it.

"Donny," Raphael murmured, spying the sash across the turtle's plastron, the one which usually held a bo staff in place. The turtle's olive skin was coated in a film of thick, beige dust, some of which was stained with a dense scarlet liquid from the cuts and abrasions riddling him. Donny's arms were draped over his face in protection. When Raphael shifted Donny slightly, to get him away from the sharp wreckage and onto an area of flat ground, his arms fell to reveal the pained frown on his visage, which was only intensified by the jumping shadows.

As Splinter and Raphael moved him, Donny stirred and cracked his eyes open. "Anyone get the number on that truck?" He murmured, before trying to stand up.

"Hush, Donatello," Master Splinter said soothingly. "Do not try and move, please just relax."

"Where's Mikey?" Donny rasped agitatedly.

"Leo's looking for him, take it easy," Raph said as comfortingly as he could. "Anything hurt, bro?"

Donny closed his eyes and shook his head. "Just bruised," he said, this time with more strength. He opened his eyes and continued. "I don't know what happened, it just started shaking..."

Whilst Donatello explained his side of events, Leonardo continued to scour the wreckage. On the edge of the mountain of rubble he spied a green arm, which he noted as he ran towards it, looked quite bruised and swollen.

As he crouched down and began to dig the ruins away, Leonardo noted a disturbance and saw that Mikey's other hand had emerged from the rocks. Leo acted on instinct and grabbed the hand, squeezing it, to let his brother know he was there.

With the help of Mikey's free hand, and now knowing where to dig first, Michelangelo's face was unearthed. Coughing and spluttering dust and debris, Mikey took in a gasping breath of sweet, precious air.

"Easy, Mike, I'll get you out," Leo assured him, carefully pulling the larger pieces of stone away. He did so with haste; one incident rested in the back of his mind, when just over two years ago, Michelangelo had been trapped when a sewer tunnel collapsed. That day, and those that followed, had been tough on the entire family. Pushing the sting of the memories to the back of his mind, Leonardo continued to dig until Mikey was able to sit up.

"Are you hurt?" Leonardo already had a good idea that he was, but he wanted to test his brother's alertness and responsiveness.

"I think I sprained my wrist, or at least did something to it, but it's not so bad," Mikey said through gritted teeth. "Did you find Donny? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Raphael confirmed, heading over to check on his youngest brother. "But how about you?"

"I'll live," Michelangelo said a too quietly for his brothers' liking, before adding in a stronger voice, "can't say the same for the elevator."

Leonardo and Raphael smirked to each other. "He's fine," they both agreed, as they helped their orange-banded brother to his feet.

"Do you know what happened?" Leo asked as he helped Mikey away from the precarious rocks.

"Are you kidding me?" Mikey asked in disbelief. "Does this look like the face of a turtle who's in the know? One minute, me and Don were fixing the elevator, the next minute, the world is playing _Shake That_, and we're dropping, and then BANG! And then it was all dark and quiet, and then you guys showed up."

"To clarify," Donny said, as he and Master Splinter approached the group, "_I _was fixing the elevator whilst shell-for-brains over there was talking for New York City in my ear. He got the rest more or less right."

"My sons," Splinter cut into the banter, "I fear that another tremor could cause further damage to this area."

"So, it was an earthquake?" Mikey asked.

Leonardo thought about this, and then realised something. "If it was, then wouldn't have the power in the lair gone off? And if not, then the news at least would have had something to say about it. Master Splinter was watching it before we left, and we were up there for ten minutes before we started abseiling. I don't remember anything on the news about it."

"Well, if not an earthquake, then what -"

Donatello was abruptly cut off by the shaking and tremors, which had apparently returned for an encore. The rescuers sheltered the two already-hurt turtles as they ducked for cover.

"There!" Leonardo called out over the clamour. He had spied a tunnel beyond the wreckage, which would suffice to shield everyone from the falling rubble. His family followed him, diving into the opening as the rubble caved in behind them and sealed the entrance shut.

As the dust settled, the turtles and their father stood up cautiously, to check that themselves and their family were okay.

"Well, that's the second time today that big chunks of rock have tried to fall on top of me, and I'm gonna sue!" Mikey exclaimed dramatically, folding his arms for effect. However, having sharply crossed his arms, he then recalled that his wrist hurt. "Oooh," he grumbled, cradling the injured limb.

"Here, let me put some bandages on it," Donny offered, ushering Mikey over to him and his brown bag. "We should both clean up our wounds, before they get infected."

Leonardo and Raphael raised their brows. "Okay... you fell down an elevator shaft, were trapped under two tons of bricks, and were pulled away just in time to throw yourself in here, and you STILL got your bag of tricks with you?" Raphael asked in disbelief.

Donny rolled his eyes. "Duh, I never go anywhere without it," he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

As this exchange took place, and both youngest turtles' wounds were taken care of under Raphael's supervision, Splinter and his eldest son surveyed the area. "Well, we can't go back," Leonardo said, feeling a little sheepish for having stated the obvious.

Splinter nodded, and ventured further into the pitch-dark tunnel with the aid of his torch. "I have never ventured this deep into the tunnels," the sage rat admitted. "However, we have no option but to do so now." He looked back, to make sure that his sons were ready to go. "Be vigilant, my sons – as we all know, any kind of foe maybe lurking within the area. We must be silent, and prepared for anything."

"Prepared for anything, huh? That's easy for you guys, _you_ didn't leave your weapons at home," Mikey moaned. He and Donatello did not think they would need their weapons whilst fixing the elevator. But then again, no one had foreseen the events of the last half an hour.

"Don't mind him, Master Splinter, Mikey's always grouchy when he gets a boo-boo," Raphael said sardonically.

"Master Splinter instructed for _silence _and _stealth,_" Leonardo hissed at his brothers.

"You're talking," Mikey pointed out.

"And he technically didn't ask for stealth," Donny added cheekily. "Silence, yes, but the actual word 'stealth' was never mentioned."

"Hey, Don, I expect that kind of thing from Mikey, but not from you," Raphael commented with a sly grin. "Did ya land on your head when you took a one-way ticket south in the elevator duct?"

"My sons," Splinter whispered in exasperation, "we are a walking bullseye for the enemy!"

"Hey, I think Sensei just made a joke," Mikey said with a chuckle.

"Michelangelo," Splinter said in that warning tone that he saved especially for his youngest son.

"Um, Sensei, I don't think there's anyone in the vicinity," Donny hazarded, "they'd have been disturbed by the elevator dropping in on them. Either they'd have come out to look and we'd have probably seen or heard them, or they'd be long gone."

"Still, experience tells us to be alert," Splinter insisted. "For anything..."

On cue, a further set of tremors commenced. The rock face to their left side began to crumble, and a stony avalanche began. The five had to jump back quickly to avoid being struck by the rocks.

As the dust once again settled, and the turtles and rat picked themselves up. Splinter would have shot his sons the usual "I told you so" glare, had the five of them not been quite so transfixed by what they saw ahead. The rock face had deteriorated to leave a brilliantly bright light beaming out over them.

"What the shell is that thing?" Raphael demanded to know.

"Some kind of vortex, a portal to somewhere," Donny suggested. "Only, I wouldn't like to guess where it leads."

"Think we should see _what's on the other side_?" Mikey asked in a chilling voice that sounded as though it had come straight out of a horror movie.

"Well, we can't go forward and we can't go back," Raphael pointed out. "I don't think we got a choice here."

"We have no idea what lies on the other side of that portal," Leonardo reminded them in an ominous voice. "Or even where it goes. For all we know, stepping through that could mean the end for us."

"Well, wouldn't you think a quick end would be better than sitting here and wasting away?" Raphael countered heatedly. "And who knows how long this thing's gonna be here? We're wasting time!"

"At least here we know what we're up against!"

Michelangelo turned to Donny and whispered, "whatever's in there has gotta be better than listening to those two argue. Shall we just go through and see if they notice?" Donny smiled wryly, but shook his head.

"My sons," Splinter said, stepping between the two eldest turtles. "As Raphael has said, we have no option but to go through the portal." He saw the sour look on Leonardo's face, but he ignored it and continued. "I also believe that events take place for a reason. It appears that the portal is the next step in the path, and no matter what we find on the other side, we must take that step."

"Wa-hoo! C'mon, let's go!" Mikey yelled. With his good wrist shielding the other, he dived head-first into the bright vortex.

Splinter rolled his eyes. "I'll get him," Raphael grumbled, before launching himself after his brother. The two remaining turtles and rat followed soon after, not knowing where they would end up, and what they would face when they got there. As Splinter's tail disappeared through the portal, it shrunk into itself until it disappeared silently, leaving the empty, dark tunnel to completely cave in on itself with a deafening rumble.

--


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

* * *

Michelangelo felt like his head had been pulled inside out and screwed on backwards. He hated travelling through vortexes and portals and whatever other screwy stuff he travelled through to get to other worlds and dimensions – something he'd been doing frequently of late. He never felt quite right when he came out on the other side.

And that was without finding out what faced him on the other side. Aliens. The Battle Nexus. Dragons. Elite swordsmen and warriors. All in all, beings and creatures that invariably wanted to pound him and his brothers into mush. _Like, no one's ever pleased to see us! There's never a nice welcome party or anything!_

But this time, instead of ending up in a dark-red world with turtle-hungry demons bearing big teeth and pitchforks, the youngest turtle rolled out of the portal onto a beach. Mikey landed facedown in a dune of creamy-white sand in the middle of a vast, tropical shoreline.

"Phff!" Mikey spat powdery sand out of his mouth in disgust. He wiped the final grains off of his tongue with his arm, and then realised... "sand?"

As Michelangelo took in the panorama around him, Raphael fell through the vortex and landed with a thud on the soft sand. He sat up and wondered out loud, "a beach?"

"I'm guessing we're not in New York anymore," Michelangelo murmured, his eyes fixed on the turquoise waves rolling in from the vast, endless ocean.

"What was your first clue?" Raphael asked, staring up at the hundred-foot-tall palm trees. "The weather?"

Leonardo, Donatello and Splinter followed through and stumbled onto the sand, a terrain they were clearly not used to. They looked around in confusion. Of course, they'd seen the sea before, but they'd never visited a tropical island.

"And me without my bucket and spade," Donny murmured, gaping at the tranquil scenery.

"So, anyone wanna field a guess?" Raph asked, throwing his arms at the surroundings. "Put it this way, if I see the tail half of an airplane anywhere around here, I'm swimming for it!"

"Ooh, dibs on Kate," Mikey cheered, punching the air.

"Guys, can we be serious for just a minute?" Leo said harshly, before realising his tone and softening slightly. "We haven't met the natives yet, and from experience, they probably won't be happy about us dropping in on them."

"Leonardo," Splinter said calmingly, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "There are no natives on this island."

"How do you know?" Raphael asked in surprise.

After a moment, Donny said in a similar astonished tone, "there's nothing here."

Splinter nodded. "Quite correct, Donatello."

"There aren't any jungle noises. No sounds of birds, or calls of animals. Not even any buzzing bugs, you'll be glad to know, Raph," Donny added with a side-long glance at his brother. "Without any wildlife here, anything up the top of the food-chain wouldn't be able to survive. There's no food-chain of any sort here."

"The jungle is called The Silent Jungle," Splinter informed them. "There is not even a breeze to rustle the leaves of the trees."

"What about rivers, and fish living in them? Or the sea?" Leo asked, looking uncertainly towards the rippling waves washing in.

"There is no fish, or any other kind of aquatic creatures here," Splinter informed them. "The sea before you is The Vacant Sea." He looked up, and his sons followed his gaze. "There are no birds. The sky is The Empty Sky."

"Master," Leonardo said, "how do you know of this?"

Splinter sat upon the sand, and the others followed suit, sitting cross-legged before him. "I had thought that this was nothing more than a legend, a tale from mythology I had heard my Master Yoshi tell. I listened to it one day as he told the account to three young children from across the hall in his apartment building, but I had thought it was fuel for their imaginations, nothing more than a fairytale.

"This island is called _Efialtis_, the word for 'nightmare' in Greek. Nobody is sure quite where it lies-"

"Like the Bermuda Triangle?" Michelangelo piped up.

"Erh, something like that," Splinter fumbled. "Well, though no one knows where the island lies, and fewer have escaped with their lives."

"But Master Splinter, if there's nothing here, what kills them?" Raphael asked in puzzlement. "You mean, they stayed here so long with nothing to eat that they starved to death?" He and his brothers did not look happy at that prospect.

Splinter shook his head. "Though there are no forms of wildlife here, no predators of sorts, the island is not entirely uninhabited." The four sons threw each other I-don't-like-the-sound-of-that looks. "The island is governed by supernatural forces. For each person who sets foot on the island, the spirit of the island can detect their deepest, darkest fears. For someone to escape the island, they must conquer the fear that is presented to them."

Four pairs of wide eyes gawped at their father incredulously. "You're kidding," Raphael said, disregarding the tale.

"We've gone through stranger things," Leonardo reasoned.

"How does this island know what our fears are? And what does it do, to give us a challenge, to test us, for us to defeat them?" Donny asked himself lists of questions aloud. He could not fathom the supernatural powers, and racked his brains for another, more scientific-based solution. He was coming up empty.

"Master Splinter," Mikey said quietly, seriously, "is this like when we had that really bad day, like when we dreamed the lair was flooded and then that Casey and April, in the van... is someone controlling our minds like that?"

"No, my son," Master Splinter said gently. "We are not being attacked on another plane, as it were. We are very much awake and alert, and in a physical place. However in that physical place resides something which taps into our mind. It does not manipulate our mind, it merely reads it, as though it were a book, in order to detect our weaknesses, our fears, our nightmares. It then uses itself, the island, to attack us with our weakness."

He paused and spoke again, this time to the rest of his sons. "I cannot tell you what each of your weaknesses will be, for they are yours, and I cannot say how the island will use them against you. I may not even be able to tell you mine, for some fears are so deep-seated that we ourselves are not conscious of them. No one can help you conquer your fears. It is something you must work out for yourselves."

The four turtles looked at each other apprehensively. "Maybe we were better off in the elevator," Mikey said to Donny, who in turn shook his head with a lopsided grin on his face at his brothers never-failing humour.

"This will not be an easy venture, my sons," Splinter reinforced.

"It never is," Raphael murmured.

"Hey, at least you got some weapons," Mikey pointed out. "Me and Don, we got nothing here." Raphael, Leonardo and Splinter had made it through the portal with their weapons. Mikey and Donny, however, were still without their nunchucks and bo staff.

"You got feet," Raphael countered, pointing out the obvious. "You can always _kick_ butt."

"Oh, sure, we got blade-boys," Mikey gestured to the two oldest turtles, "vs. hand-to-hand," before gesturing to himself and Donatello. "We'll win hands down! Oh, no we won't, we'll lose, hands sliced off!"

"Michelangelo," Splinter said in a warning tone. "Calm yourself. The tests you will come up against will not necessarily test your physical ability. The island could pick up on psychological fears, and test your ability to conquer them mentally. This can sometimes be much more difficult to overcome."

"Yeah, especially with Mikey's mind," Raphael said, unable to resist the dig, even more so when he saw the miffed look on his youngest brother's face.

"I doubt we'll be seeing much of Mikey's mind, wherever it is," Donny said, joining in the banter at his brother's expense. "If you recall some of the nightmares when Mikey was a kid, they were of a much more physical nature."

"Oh yeah!" Raph said, remembering. "What did we have? The thing under the bed?"

"The monsters in the dark?" Donny said with a grin.

"Spiders, don't forget the spiders," Leo added, biting his bottom lip to keep from chuckling out loud.

Michelangelo looked extremely uncomfortable at having his childish fears dredged up for him. "Okay, well, we'll just see what this island, waddaya call it? _Effaltoes..._"

"_Efialtis_," Splinter corrected.

"Yeah, okay, we'll just see what this place has in store for you guys, heights-boy," Mikey pointed to Leo, "big-bad-bugs," then to Raphael, "and... Mr. kitchen utensils," he finished, gesturing to Donny.

Raphael looked ready to pummel Michelangelo, however Leo restrained him and reminded him, "he's giving some back, that's the signal to stop, okay?" Raphael relented, but still growled in his youngest brother's direction.

"Um, I'm not afraid of kitchen utensils," Donny said, pulling a face.

"They're afraid of you," Mikey retorted.

"Enough," Splinter commanded, calling an end to the banter, which secretly amused him. Of course, he'd never let his sons know that. "The sooner we face our fears, the sooner we can all go home."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Raph said, jumping up to his feet and grabbing a sai out of habit. "Let's go in, face some fears, and go home before dinner, yeah?"

"Let's do it," Leonardo agreed with verve, standing up as well. Together, the family advanced along the beach and through a clearing, which led into the dense, lush jungle.

"I get what you mean now, Sensei," Mikey said, "there's not even the sound of crickets in here! "

"Now we know what the sound of inside Mikey's head sounds like," Raph remarked.

"C'mon, enough digs at the little turtle," Michelangelo pouted.

"Yes, the Silent Jungle is quite disconcerting," Splinter concurred. "It is as though we take the noises that accompany a jungle, or perhaps anything in life, for granted."

"I guess it's meant to make you think," Leonardo suggested.

"You mean, this is what it's like for a deaf person if they walk through a jungle?" Mikey asked innocently.

"For crying out loud, I'm not even gonna dignify that," Raphael grumbled.

"Mikey's got the right idea," Donny said, sticking up for his younger brother. "Just about, at least. You expect stuff in a jungle like this, like hearing birds or the sound of water. It's just plain weird without it."

They continued to walk, experiencing and slightly enjoying the absolute silence, save for the sounds of their feet crunching upon the leaves and twigs, until just inside a clearing, Raphael stopped them. "Shh," he hissed, holding his hand up to stop his family, who nearly walked into one another. "We're being followed."

The others immediately stopped and adopted a ready stance, in preparation for a possible attack. After a minute of thick silence, Leonardo said in a low voice, "well, Raph, we're waiting."

"I can sense it," Raphael said, desperation lacing his voice.

"I can't," Donny said, relaxing his ready-stance.

"Neither can I," Mikey put in, before turning to Donatello and asking, "Don, d'ya think since we got no weapons here, and Mr. Paranoia over there thinks we might be attacked sometime this year, d'ya think we should find some bamboo or logs or something? You know, go 'Jungle Turtle' all over again?"

Donny thought this through, and nodded. "Master? Can me and Mikey go..."

"No," Splinter cut in sharply, causing all four turtles to look suddenly in his direction. "If Raphael detects a presence, then he, or all of us, could very well be in danger."

"But how can he detect it and we can't?" Leonardo challenged.

Things then began to happen all at once, with no time for explanations. Raphael's spine tingled suddenly, and he whipped around just in time to see a flash of something dark scuttling towards the group. "Leo!" Raphael cried. "Look out!"

The breath had barely escaped Raph's mouth as the flash rammed directly into Leonardo's side and send him flying across the undergrowth. He skidded to a halt, and looked up to see the gleaming eyes of... "Raphael!"

The creature, a mutant turtle, could have been the fifth brother, right down to the knee and elbow pads. The bandana around his narrow, glinting eyes was black, and tattered at the tails. His skin was a much darker, forest green, and covered in angry scratches and deep scars.

However, Leonardo had no time to take any of this in, for the replica turtle was holding a razor-sharp sai to his throat with deadly intent.

-


	5. Chapter Four

A/N: Wow, let me just thank everyone for their great encouragement here! I'd been struggling a little bitwith this story, but then last night the writers' block left! I hope this chapter lives up to the last one..!

* * *

Chapter Four 

Raphael spared no hesitation in bolting towards the being that had Leonardo pinned down. With a roaring battle cry, he launched himself into it before the sai could cause any damage. They rolled away from Leo and came to a stop, where the two began to tussle relentlessly on the ground. As Donny, Mikey and Splinter approached to check Leo was all right, Raphael had the darker turtle pinned down.

"I don't care who the hell you are, there's no way you hurt my family!" Raphael snarled venomously. He looked into the enemy's murky eyes, and tried hard to ignore the sinking feeling deep in the pit of his stomach.

"Too late," the enemy sneered with a malevolent leer. His voice was almost identical to Raphael's own Brooklyn tone, only deeper, with a harder edge.

"What?" Raphael hissed uncertainly. He stood up, jumped back with his sais drawn, and placed himself between the creature and his family.

"Where are my manners? I didn't get to introduce myself – but then, being rude is what I do. I'm your Dark Half, Raphie-boy," the sinister turtle enlightened him. "I'm the uncontrollable rage in you. Each time you've ever lost your self-control, that's where I come in."

"No way," Raphael whispered fearfully, now fully comprehending what the creature was talking about.

"I'm your worse nightmare, pal," the Dark Half finished rancorously.

"The hell you are! I defeated you! You ain't coming back, I won't let you," Raphael swore boldly, trying to hide the trace of hesitance in his voice.

"So, you really think you've changed? C'mon, don't you still wanna tell Leonardo what you really think of him? That he is a paranoid, kiss-ass, obsessive wannabe-Splinter?"

"Shut up!" Raphael roared. He could see that this only pleased the turtle further, and sneered irately. "I've never thought that about Leo! Never!"

The Dark Half pulled a face. "Coward," he tutted.

Raphael knew the Dark Half was trying to push all his buttons, and he endeavoured to ignore the Dark Half's taunting. However, the fact that his family was witnessing this, and seeing his hidden side in the flesh, so to speak, was very disconcerting.

The Dark Half frowned at the silence, before changing tack. "How about Donatello? You gotta remember all those times you wished you could tell Don to get himself a life, and quit spending whatever pointless life he leads fixing stuff!"

"Donny's smart! The smartest guy I know! And if he didn't do what he does, fix all that stuff, we'd all be screwed," Raphael countered confidently.

"But smarts don't help you in battle," the Dark Half pointed out. "Maybe he should spend less time at the computer and more in the dojo, huh?"

"Ha! He'd kick your shell any day of the week! I'd lay my life on it!"

Donny grimaced and turned to Leo. "I hope he doesn't carry that out – nine times out of ten, Raph wipes the floor with my shell!"

Leo shook his head. "He knows what's he doing," he said solemnly, not really knowing how else to interpret the situation.

"What about your father? I lost count of how many times you wanted to tell him where he could shove all his rules and boundaries," the Dark Half snickered.

Raphael knew he wasn't getting anywhere, and he'd rather not hear anymore of what gloomy memories the Dark Half was dredging up for him. He backed away towards his family, and hissed, "how do I get rid of this guy?"

"Raphael, this is your nightmare," Splinter said clearly and concisely. "We believe only what we hear from you. If you want the nightmare to go away, you have to beat it."

"I thought I did it once, and that took me almost forever," Raph sighed.

"And you can do it again," Splinter assured him.

"We know you can do it, bro," Donny added, placing a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

Whilst the family gave Raphael a much-needed pep-talk, the Dark Half suddenly appeared where they stood. "I ain't finished," he said indignantly. He kicked Raphael out of the way, and grabbed Michelangelo by the leg. In one smooth swoop, Michelangelo was upside-down, being held up by his ankle.

"Whoa," Mikey said dizzily. "Raphie-boy, I didn't know the pissed-off side of you was, like, World's Strongest Turtle!"

"Put my brother down!" Raphael bellowed furiously.

"Heh! And drop him on his head? And risk him losing brain cells? Oh yeah, that's right, it wouldn't make any difference, would it Raph? Huh?"

"Hey! Dark Raph! This is payback!" With his good hand, Mikey grabbed a thick tree-root, wrapped his free leg around the Dark Half's neck, and pulled the creature to the ground.

"All yours, bro!" Mikey said, gesturing to the turtle.

However, the Dark Half was not finished taunting Raphael yet. He stood up, and adopted a solid fighting stance. His voice changed from Raph's laid back articulation to one more formidable. "Disobeying your father, fighting with Leonardo, pushing around Donatello, and hurting Michelangelo, all out of anger and spite," the Dark Half continued, taking great pleasure in the dread-filled look on Raphael's face, "even when you did not want to, you had no choice. You succumbed to me, and your family suffered at your hands." There was a pause, before he continued. "I have not been around so frequently though, of late. You disappoint me. You have been learning to control your anger. Gradually, yes, but as with most changes, there was a turning point..." he trailed off, glancing to look at Michelangelo.

Raphael gasped as memories flooded his vision. The last time he had lost all control of his rage, Michelangelo had taken the brunt of it. _Almost_. If his family hadn't been there to stop him...

The red-banded turtle became consumed within the flashback, and unknowingly lost his focus. The shadowy turtle took full advantage, and with a flying kick sent Raphael rolling into a thick part of the undergrowth.

"Raph!" Leonardo called out, trying to awaken his brother from his trance.

"Raph, get up!" Donny shouted, thinking that the Dark Half would attack his brother.

However, the Dark Half proved him wrong with a shake of the head. "Quite incorrect, Donatello – and that would be a first for you," he added maliciously. "I will not attack him. Yet. You obviously do not waste as much time watching movies as Michelangelo does." Mikey sneered, but said nothing. "You have yet to learn that the most effective way of hurting someone is by hurting those closest to him!" With that, he sped towards the group, and jumped high in the air, before landing in the heart of the four. With a seemingly effortless split-kick, he took care of the two youngest, sending them spinning away from the heart of the clearing, before engaging in battle with Splinter and Leonardo.

"Master," Leonardo called out between breaths, "if we hurt this, this thing, do we hurt Raph?"

"No," Splinter said gruffly. "This is not part of Raphael in body, only in mind. We cannot defeat it, only he can." He ducked quickly, before adding, "though I think it would be prudent for us to defend ourselves against it."

Having got to their feet, Donny and Mikey started to head over to where Raph lay, but the Dark Half saw them out of the corner of his eye. "Not so fast!" He shouted. He pushed his way out of his current battle, and placed himself between Raphael and the two youngest turtles. "I am not finished with any of you, yet. Though I may appear separate from him now, I am the rage that drives inside Raphael. And separate from him, he cannot control me. He will not hold me back as I destroy each and every one of you!"

Mikey threw Donny a sidelong glance. "Erh, I'm not liking this new side of Raph. How about you?"

"Well, he doesn't look happy," Donny observed.

Leo and Splinter ran to join them. "What have you done to Raph?" Leo demanded harshly.

"He's merely stunned," the Dark Half informed them disinterestedly. "No need for you to worry. You will all be long gone by the time I come to deal with him." The being stormed at them, and with one foul swoop, knocked the family flying.

"We have to spread out," Leo instructed. "Mikey," he called to the turtle who was farthest away from the Dark Half, "check on Raph!"

Michelangelo did not need to be told twice. Whilst his brothers and Splinter kept the creature busy, he tore across the long grass to reach his brother. He found him on the ground, his glazed eyes open and staring intently at nothing. "Bro, we gotta go!" Mikey said anxiously, shaking Raph's shoulders.

Raphael shook his head and sat up. "Mikey! Guys! I'm so sorry, I let him control me, I should have..."

"Forget what you should have done, and work on what you should do now," Mikey said, pointing to where the Dark Half battled with his brothers and Sensei. "We can put you on Oprah later. For now, take care of that thing!"

"How?" Raphael asked despairingly.

"I don't know," Michelangelo admitted. "All I know is, you're the strongest of us. You can do it, whatever it is. Maybe Sensei knows how to defeat it."

Hearing his name, Splinter left the battle and approached them. He nodded to Michelangelo to take his place in the fighting, and crouched down next to where Raph sat, still dazed and confused.

"Sensei, how can I fight this thing? He's my anger, he's my drive. And now I haven't got control over him, all over again," Raphael poured out.

"You may not control this, this being," Splinter said, throwing an arm to gesture to the darker turtle, "but you can beat it. Think, Raphael. When were you most vulnerable in battle?"

Raphael thought quickly to come up with the right answer. _Without weapons? No. When I was alone? Not even then._ Before long, his Master's teachings flooded back into his mind, and he began to think clearly. "When I was angry," he said tentatively.

"Correct. And why was this?"

"Because I wasn't in control of it." The look from Splinter told him he needed to develop this answer. "I wasn't thinking straight. I wasn't concentrating properly."

"Correct again." He glanced towards the Dark Half. "Look at this creature. How is he fighting?"

"Heh, like Leo. He's really focused. He knows what's going on." The penny dropped. "I gotta make him angry!" He turned to his father and smirked. "Hey, Sensei, you're good!"

"Thank you, my son. Finally," he added, "do not listen when he taunts you. Do not let him get to you."

"I won't," Raph said, standing up, before adding, "as long as you guys don't, either."

Splinter smiled and nodded.

Raphael shook his head vigorously once again, and snapped back to reality. He stood up defiantly, and took a sai in each hand. With a final nod from his Sensei, he pounded over to where the Dark Half battled, and threw a sai to disarm the turtle. The weapon wrapped in the tatty black fabric disappeared into a dense part of the undergrowth, and the disarmed turtle looked up to the source of this new attack.

"Hey, Raph," the Dark Half said, feigning offence in a patronising tone. "I thought we were on the same side here. Partners in crime. I thought I'd taught you better. What went wrong?"

"Nothing went wrong," Raphael said firmly, "things went right. I got rid of you. Things went great!" He added with extra pep.

"But we were unstoppable! We were great together!"

"Hey, man, we're not divorcees," Raphael said cockily, rolling his eyes. He wanted to irritate the Dark Half, and he'd had lessons from the best in the business – his youngest brother.

The Dark Half's eyes narrowed. "Don't toy with me," he threatened. "I own you. Every spiteful thing you've ever said, every violent act you've ever committed, I drove you to it. I've done it before and I can do it again."

"Uh, I don't think so," Raphael said, calmly strolling towards the Dark Half. "Well, you did it in the past, sure. But not anymore. I'm in control. You ain't."

Raphael smugly looked on as the Dark Half became increasingly angry.

"What's the matter, man? You're looking a little pissed off." He grinned and in a sing-song voice said, "I think someone needs a time-out."

That did it. The Dark Half hit boiling point, and with a wild howl he dived towards Raph, sais in hand. Raphael smartly stepped to one side, and used the Dark Half's velocity against him by easily tripping him up and sending him sprawling to the ground. Taking swift advantage of his vulnerability, Raphael pinned the turtle's two hands down with his two sais.

"Any last requests?"

The Dark Half's eyes narrowed, and he looked away. As Raphael lowered his sai to the creature's neck, the being disappeared into nothingness.

Breathing heavily at the physical and psychological battle, Raph remained hunched over on his knees, staring at the ground, holding his sai above the grass with an unsteady hand. He finally relented with a shaky breath, lowered the sai into the ground, and closed his eyes.

Michelangelo made a move to go towards his brother, but Leo held him back and shook his head. He ushered Donny and Mikey away from the area, whilst Splinter slowly padded towards his second-eldest.

Splinter patiently waited for his son to make the first move, saying nothing whilst the turtle's harsh breathing to slow down. Once Raphael had partially recovered, he turned his head sideways to glance at his master. The half-questioning, half-expectant look in his eyes was all Splinter required, to know what Raphael needed to hear.

"I am proud of you, my son."

Raphael sighed hoarsely, before looking up with a grateful smile. "We'd better go," he said, straightening up. "If that was the warm-up, those three bozos are gonna be in for a shock when this place serves the main course," he added, jerking a thumb towards where his brothers stood, quietly talking. "_Someone's_ gotta warn them what's in store."

Splinter smiled and nodded, and the two walked over and rejoined the group.

--


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Following this battle, Leonardo helped Donatello and Michelangelo to quickly fashion weapons for themselves. A temporary bo staff was carved for Donatello, who felt better for having a weapon to hand again, even if it were not his own personal bo. In the short time they had for creating weapons, nunchucks could not be made, and so Leo helped Mikey carve a pair of tonfa, a wooden weapon that Mikey also had some experience with.

"You sure you'll be okay with that wrist, if we need to fight?" Leo asked with some concern.

"Hey, you _know _I can fight with one hand tied behind my back," Mikey said with a grin.

During the weapon-making process, which Splinter oversaw, Raphael sat on a log not too far away, alone with his thoughts. The others obeyed Splinter's strict instructions to leave him undisturbed, until it was time to go.

None of them really knew what to make of Raphael's nightmare. They had not been able to envisage a particular fear for Raph – though a lot of things seemed to irritate him, few things truly frightened him. However, upon seeing the Dark Half appear, and seeing Raph's reaction to it, they wondered why they had not guessed it before. They had seen Raphael's transgression to become less angry, a journey which had been rocky for some parts, and remembered vividly how hard the red-banded turtle had tried to rid himself of his demons, for the sake of his family, and for the sake of himself.

For this reason, no one knew what to say to Raphael following the episode. Apart from giving him a quick squeeze of reassurance on his shoulder, his brothers did not feel it appropriate to say anything.

This suited Raphael just fine – he used the quiet spell to mull over his actions, and come to terms with them. Despite the turmoil of emotions he had undergone during the fight with the Dark Half – confusion, frustration, anger, and fear – he now felt strangely at peace, perhaps even more so than after the first time he had combated with his rage. He felt a stronger sense of accomplishment, as well – most likely because of the physical element to the struggle.

"We are now ready to move on, my son," Splinter said softly. Raphael looked up to see that his brothers were now all fully equipped with weapons. _How long had I been sitting there, thinking? _Raphael wondered as he stood up.

As he walked a short distance behind his brothers, who were chatting quietly, probably about what they had just witnessed, Raphael smiled. He had jumped his hurdle, and he was ready and willing to help his brothers do the same in their tasks.

"You okay, bro?" Mikey asked uncertainly as Raphael jogged up beside him.

"Yup," Raphael nodded gruffly. "One less demon to worry about." He began to scratch the back of his neck and continued hesitantly, "and, erh, all that stuff that particular demon back there said..."

"We know, it's okay," Leonardo said, not wishing to see his brother in discomfort.

As the brothers continued to chatter, asking sparse and tentative questions about Raphael's experience with the Dark Half, Donatello's keen eye spotted something glinting beneath one of the large, green leaves in the bush. He stopped, hanging back for a moment to investigate.

He carefully pulled away at the giant foliage to reveal a small, square box, about the size of a Rubix cube. The cube was metallic silver, with sharp edges and pointed corners. With a puzzled frown, Donny went to pick up the cube, but his hand was roughly pulled back. He indignantly looked up to see Leonardo standing behind him, holding his arm.

"Remember where we are," he warned. He knew that, as and when his brothers came to face their fears, he could do little to help. Still, it was in his nature to remain on guard, and look out for his brothers and any potential hazards until that time came.

Donny rolled his eyes, and took his bo staff from where it was sheathed on his shell. With the tip of the staff, he poked at the metal box, knocking it over to check it wasn't booby-trapped.

"Happy now?" Donny said sarcastically, having tipped the cube in various directions. He picked it up and held it close to his eye, studying it intently.

It was somewhat heavy, and when Donatello cautiously shook it, he concluded that it was solid inside. There were no grooves in the object to indicate that there was any way to open it and investigate it further. He scratched his head, a perplexed look gracing his features.

"It's just a box," Raphael said, disregarding any notion that it could be of value.

"So, how'd it get here?" Mikey enquired.

"It is a bit out of place," Leonardo agreed. "I mean, all this uninhabited jungle, and then we find a silver box thing, out of nowhere," he added, suspicion evident in his voice. "It could be best left alone."

"But, it must do something," Donny persisted. "It must have some kind of purpose. It wouldn't just be here, on its own."

"Jeez, it's a box, it ain't looking through the personal ads," Raph rolled his eyes.

Donny shot his brother a glare before turning back to the box. "No hinges," he murmured, "can't open it." He tried twisting and turning it, with no success. He then tapped it, thinking that it might be activated by external vibrations.

_It's gotta do something..._

Mikey shot his brothers a sidelong glance and asked, "is anyone else just seeing a cube, here?"

_But why can't I figure out what it does?_

"I think it's a trap," Leo decided, folding his arms.

"When _don't_ you think anything's a trap?" Raph said rhetorically.

Donatello ignored his brothers' banter and continued to ramble. "It's just gotta do something," he persisted, furiously turning the object over and over in his hands, looking for a clue.

Michelangelo approached Donny and suggested, "maybe it just doesn't do anything, bro."

"No," Donny snapped, "look at it! It's probably made out of silver or nickel, and it's a perfect cube! Nothing made out of those materials in a perfect cube like this just fell out of the sky! It's gotta be man-made, and if it's man-made, man has made it for a purpose! And I've got to know what that purpose is!"

Taken aback, Mikey looked down at the ground and fiddled with his thumbs. Raphael was next to put his oar in. "Yo, Don! Chill out, okay? He didn't mean anything by it, he was just saying..."

"Well, _all _of you can stop 'just saying', and let me figure out what this thing does!" Donny barked back.

Raph's eyes were wide. "Donny, you wanna step back and listen to yourself, here?"

The normally placid turtle was too deep in his funk to do so. "You guys aren't getting the picture!" Donny fumed. "This is what I do!"

_This is all I _can_ do..._

"I figure out how things work, then I fix them! That's me! That's my thing! You guys all have your thing, and this is my thing! And if I can't do it, I... I... argh!" Shooting a venomous look at the cube, Donatello threw the thing away in anger and frustration.

"Look, Don," Leo began gently, intending to diffuse the distressed turtle. However, he did not get the opportunity to do so.

The cube had jerkily rolled away down the path for a moment, before settling on one side. Almost instantly, the top flaps of the metal box had unfolded and stretched out, inexplicably growing. The outer layers of the box did the same thing, and this process was repeated over and over, the contraption growing in size with each time. What unfolded from this small, seemingly insignificant box was a ten-foot-tall robot.

Its outer shell was made up of the different plates, around the same size as the six that had made up the exterior of the box. They seemed to be held together in unbreakable magnetic bonds. One of the creature's arms was a razor-sharp blade, and the fierce scowl on the robot's shiny, silver face told the turtles and Splinter that the mechanism was going to wield his weapon with deadly intent.

"Hey, would you look at that," Mikey said, stood alongside his family in the ready-stance, "Don figured out what it does. Now how's about you fix it, bro?"

"I think it's safe to say this could be your nightmare, Don," Leo said cautiously.

"Oh, ya think?" Raphael retorted sarcastically.

"I would think Leonardo is correct," Splinter affirmed. "And as such, only Donatello can defeat this... this object."

"Um, has anyone noticed that this thing hasn't exactly done anything yet?" Mikey said, idly twirling his tonfa in his hand.

The robot took that moment to slam his huge, metal fist to the ground. The force sent shock waves along the earth, and knocked the five of them tumbling backwards.

Sitting up, Raph shot Michelangelo a fierce look. "Remind me not to let you talk, ever," he glowered at the turtle with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Speaking of talking," Leo said, turning to face Donatello. "Donny," he said gently. "Don, this is your arena. Machines."

Donatello turned to his brother with wide eyes. "But if I don't know what I did to make this thing like this, then how am I meant to know what to do to make it go back again?"

"Don, _not_ the time to start rambling," Raphael said, glaring at the robot, which was now making its way towards them.

"You must apply logic to solve this puzzle, Donatello," Splinter advised, stepping back away from the advancing robot. "You must be rational."

"But this thing _defies _logic," Donny pointed out. "How can all that metal just come out of that tiny box?"

"Dude, maybe you gotta, like, think outside the box," Mikey suggested.

"Mikey, what did I _just_ say to you about not talking?" Raph groaned.

"Michelangelo may have a point," Splinter said in speculation.

The encouragement from his family provided a new lease of life for Donny, and he led the others in a charge towards the robot. _If I can't fix it with brains, then how about with brawn?_ He struck it ferociously with his bo staff, Mikey pummelled it with his tonfa, Splinter smacked it with his staff, Raph plunged his sais into the metalwork, and Leo sliced it with his katana. Once they'd finished the onslaught, they landed and readied themselves before surveying the damage.

"Hey, shouldn't this thing be... you know... smashed up?" Mikey breathed.

The scratches and dents on the robot were being covered by new layers of metal, like skin knitting itself back together – rapidly. Within a few moments, it was as good as new, if not better.

The robot took advantage of their awe and fear, and struck out with his sword-hand. He let out a reverberating roar as he saw he his enemies had evaded this attack, and with his other hand, swept the ground where they were recovering from the first attack. This time, he scattered them in different directions like a bowling ball hitting a clean strike.

As Donny pulled himself out of the bush he'd ended up in, he racked his brains for the solution to this problem. "Think outside the box, think outside the box," he kept repeating to himself. "What the shell does that even _mean_? This thing _is _the outside of the box, and it won't be hurt on the outside..." he trailed off mid-thought, an idea suddenly occurring to him. "The robot's outer-layers are indestructible. The source of their strength is from within. I wonder how indestructible the _inside _of this thing is," he finished with a wicked grin on his face.

As Don began to assess his thoughts rationally, his family were regrouping. "Everyone all right?" Leo checked. He noted the curt nods, before looking around and asking, "where's Don?"

The others also scanned the area, before Splinter spied his son. "Donatello!" he cried, his eyes wide. Risking whiplash, the three turtles snapped their heads around to face the scene their Sensei was gaping at.

"Hey, junk-bucket!" Donny called out, getting the robot's attention with the waving of his arms. As the robot slowly and clumsily turned to face him, Donny used the makeshift bo as a pole to vault up to the machine's head. Riding on the back of the robot's thick neck, Don plunged the end of his bo into what he guessed were the joints of the robot's jaw. He guessed right. Though the robot's outer shell was unharmed, his jaw became slack.

"Raph! Can I borrow a sai?" Donny requested.

"Think fast!" Raph called back, throwing one of his weapons towards his brother.

Donatello caught it effortlessly, and with a wink to his family, flipped from the robot's neck and into his wide, open mouth, which immediately clamped shut.

---


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Donny!" His brothers roared, gasping as their purple-banded brother seemed to be swallowed by the robot. Mikey and Leo immediately ran towards the robot and began to thrash and slash at it wildly.

"No, guys! Stop!" Both Raphael and Splinter pulled them back.

"But it ate Don!" Mikey cried in confusion, struggling to free himself from Raph's strong grip. "Lemme go! We gotta get him out!"

"He's gonna get himself out," Raph promised him through gritted teeth as he continued to restrain his brother. A nod from Splinter, who had a reassuring hand on Leo's shoulder, confirmed what Raphael said.

"Your brother is conquering his nightmare," Splinter told them sagely.

"But then why is that thing still here?" Leo demanded.

"The robot is not Donatello's nightmare," Splinter explained. "His fear is failure – failure to solve the puzzle presented to him. He is trying to overcome this fear with a clear head, and once he attains this, he should be able to find the solution to the problem."

One factor Donny had not taken into account, when he hastily gave himself up for the robot's lunch, was that it was pitch dark inside. "Maybe this is what it's like to be canned tuna," he muttered to himself, wincing as his voice echoed sharply around him. "Then again, tuna doesn't have a can-opener _inside _the can," he added. He felt for a smooth piece of metal in front of him, and used the sai to pierce it. For a moment, light projected through into the robot, giving Donatello the advantage of vision. But only for a moment. No sooner had he speared the robot, Don could faintly hear the grim sound of the robot rebuilding itself, before the puncture was mended.

"No," Donny murmured to himself in disbelief. He'd thought it through, rationally! He hacked at the robot's thin, metal plating, and gasped in horror as it knitted back together before his very eyes.

"But this was supposed to work," Donny grumbled dejectedly. In a louder voice that boomed around the small shell he was in, "why can't I make this work!"

Outside the robot, the others heard Donny's shout, and looked at each other. "He needs help!" Leo snapped, swords prepared for a second onslaught before a gnarled hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"Only when he is in danger will we help him," Splinter said firmly.

"But he's inside that thing!" Mikey persisted. Even Raph looked doubtful that his brother was safe.

As they watched the robot, he suddenly made his next move. Before their wide eyes, he inverted his face, which seemed to swallow itself into its body.

"That can't be good," Raphael muttered.

"It gets worse," Leo said, anxiously pointing his sword at the sides of the robot's body, which were now sprouting additional arms. The six long, gangly arms, extended towards the three turtles and rat, who were stood to defend themselves.

Inside the robot, Donatello gasped when he felt the area shift a little, and shielded his eyes as two bulbs seemed to switch on, out of nowhere. After a second he became used to the light, and saw that the two yellow bulbs were the eyes of the robot, and that his face was inexplicably inside-out, and hanging inside the robot's stomach by its neck.

"So, Donatello," the robot spoke in a slow, monotonous, tinny voice. "I am beyond your mind."

"Fine, I admit it," Donny said, folding his arms. "I can't figure you out. There are things I _can't_ figure out. I get that. Nightmare over. Now let me out."

"So you concede defeat? What will your brothers think of you now? And your Sensei, who has taught you to fight to the finish?"

_Then again, I don't have to come out, _Donny thought to himself, _it's cosy in here, I like the dark, maybe a throw or two and..._

Donny could have sworn the robot's hollow bulbs narrow just a little, and the corners of his square mouth turn up just slightly, as though in a wicked smile.

"No, that's what you want," Donny said forcefully. "I won't admit defeat! I'll solve this puzzle!"

"For one so bright, you do not catch on very quickly," the robot told him.

The two bulbs flicked off, and all of a sudden, Donny felt like he was in a washing machine on fast spin. He landed with an ooph on the ground, and took a moment to regain his senses. When he looked up, he saw the robot standing tall above him, now with six arms. In four of those arms, there struggled a member of his family.

Donny gasped. The stakes had been raised, and his family were the prize. As he watched them helplessly tussle in the robot's clamp-hands, Donatello felt his stomach drop. "How do I solve this puzzle?"

"I don't care – just get us outta here!" Mikey hollered back through gritted teeth.

In that instant, everything changed. Donatello stopped looking at the robot as a puzzle, and started seeing it as an enemy, putting his family in danger. With a roar, he used his bo staff to crack the thin telescopic arms that were holding the four others. One by one, he broke the arms away with his weapon, and the four family members dropped to the floor.

The robot did not rebuild itself.

As his family prised themselves out of the grip of the hands, Donny did not stop to assess the reason why the robot did not knit itself back together, as it had done before. He dived straight in without hesitation. Wielding his bo, he thrashed at the robot, denting and compromising the metal. Taking Raph's sai, which was still stashed in his belt, he slashed at the already-weakened metal, fully focused on destroying the robot.

Once Donny had finished the offensive, the robot swayed and staggered for a moment, before falling to the ground with a deafening crash. Donatello leapt onto the metal carcass and sneering, stared into the robot's vacant bulbs. "Even if I can't figure out how you work, I am not useless."

With that, Donny jumped off of the robot and looked on as the remains of the robot began to unfold and refold, until it was once again back in its original, cube form.

Donny wordlessly picked up the cube, and placed it into his bag of tricks, which he had discarded near a tree during the fight. He turned back to his brothers and said, "I'll figure out what to do with it. Later, in my own time."

"You did pretty good already, Don," Raphael commended as Donny handed his sai back.

"And we've never thought you were useless, even if you can't fix something," Mikey added.

"Thanks," Donny said genuinely. "I guess I know that a little better now. I thought my fear was not being able to figure out how something works. But, it was thinking that if I _couldn't _figure out how something works, then I couldn't succeed at anything."

"My son," Splinter began, addressing a now-solemn Donatello, "the island not only helps one to conquer their fears, but also to educate. You cannot solve every puzzle in the world, no matter how hard you try. This you must accept. And when you cannot mend something, you must _never_ think you are worthless. Fixing devices is not your sole purpose, and it is not the only thing you are good at. You have many more qualities, some that use your mind, others that use your heart."

Donny smiled. "Something to remember for the future, huh?"

"Indeed," Splinter said, also smiling. "Perhaps something for your brothers to remember, as well?"

The other three turtles took a sudden interest in the ground at that moment, before a sharp cough from Splinter diverted their attention. "We'll put less pressure on you to mend stuff," Raph said.

"And help you if you need it," Leo agreed.

"And we'll keep Raph from breaking it in the first place," Mikey added with a smirk.

"I'll break your face in a minute," Raphael threatened, waving his fist to enforce the warning.

"Come on guys," Mikey changed the subject quickly. "Time to get going. Two down, two to go!" He skipped ahead, whilst his family followed, shaking their heads in amusement.

"Three," Leo corrected. "Master Splinter hasn't had a go yet."

"Sheesh, Leo, this ain't a theme park ride," Raph said flippantly.

"'Sides, Master Splinter ain't afraid of anything," Mikey said with conviction.

Splinter hesitated for just one second before continuing behind his sons. _How wrong you are, my son, _he thought to himself with a sad shake of his head, _I fear many things. And right now, I fear this island is about to rob you of your innocence._

-

Following the episode with the robot, the family of five continued to walk through the jungle, which gradually became steeper and steeper, until they broke through the dense trees and long grass to an open, lush ridge. From up here, they could see for miles around. Behind them, they could see the vast stretch of jungle they had trekked through, and in front of them, the meadow spread until it came to an abrupt halt and dropped into a sheer cliff face.

The only sight beyond the cliff edge was that of the vast, aqua ocean, gently rippling until it faded away over the horizon. The turtles expected that, high on the cliff, the wind would be whipping around them, but there was no breeze at all.

"Perhaps we could rest here," Splinter suggested, settling himself upon a patch of the verdant meadow. "We are safer to do so here, in the open space, rather than in within the trees."

The turtles nodded in agreement. Michelangelo, not content with sitting with his brothers and Sensei, strolled over to the cliff edge, to see what was below. The tide, which appeared much stronger than at the beach they'd first landed on, crashed against a cluster of sharp rocks, sending spray bursting up into the air.

"Heh, pretty steep drop," Raph said, sidling up to where he brother peered over the edge.

Startled, Mikey jumped back from the edge. "Dude! Do not sneak up on a turtle when he's near the edge of a cliff!" He said indignantly.

"Guys, come away from there," Leo said from where he sat with Splinter and Donny.

"Yeah, because if you guys fall over and end up as turtle shish-kebab... Hey, Leo," Donny said, interrupting himself, "you think that's your fear?"

"Fear? Mikey going over the edge, now that's a dream come true," Raphael said, with a grin that told his glaring youngest brother he was joking.

"I don't know," Leonardo admitted. "One of my fears was heights. Maybe that's why we're here. And then another fear is, well, you guys getting hurt," he added, looking away and absently scratching the back of his neck.

"We all fear that, Leo," Donny said softly. "The fears this place finds in us, they're more personal. And, speaking for myself here, they're more subconscious. My one, it really caught me surprise."

"Leo, do you think your fear could be..." Mikey began, before he was cut off when his Sensei held his paw up.

"My sons," Splinter addressed, "I advise you not to speculate on your possible fears. If you come to expect one, and a different one is presented to you, then you will be caught off-guard and will be more vulnerable. You must try to have an open mind until you are shown your challenge."

"But if we figure out what our biggest fear is gonna be before we see it, then won't we be prepared and be able to defeat it better?" Mikey suggested.

"No," Splinter told him firmly. "For one, the island does not select your darkest fear, whatever it might be. It selects merely _one _of several fears. Secondly, the fear the island does hone in on may be one you are unconscious of, as Donatello said. You cannot prepare for something you are unaware of. All we can do is wait, until the island is ready to test us."

"Grr! I _hate _waiting," Raph moaned, folding his arms.

At that moment, Leonardo sensed something behind him, and whatever he sensed sent a shiver down his spine. In the blink of an eye he was on his feet and his swords were out, poised and ready for anything. His narrow, focused eyes widened the minute he saw what he had detected.

"The Shredder," he breathed in disbelief.

---


End file.
